on my way to piers morgan on cnn. what were you getting at? dian -- >> what do you mean? >> i thought i looked intellectual. cnn is the home to intellectuals. yeah. >> you get tense on twitter. you get into proper battles with people. >> yeah. >> why do you take it -- >> at home i'm smiling. >> of course. >> when someone is arguing with me, it appears they are 5,000 years old. yes, i'm smiling. of course i'm smiling. the fundamental dispute is like an episode of the flintstones. i have to laugh. >> how does your atheism that you are passional about play with your american audience given that so many people in america are god fearing people. >> they shouldn't. why should they take offense that i don't believe in their god or any other god. tell me the reasons you don't believe in all the other gods. that's the reason i don't believe in yours. i have nothing against them at all. in fact, if it did make you a kind of person, if you are into good things, then great. there's the road. it's when i see some of these religious fundamentalists that told

on that last record. and you're going to be hearing more and more of those songs. >> simon cowell, piers morgan, please stand by. more on the death of whitney houston right here on cnn after this quick break. ♪ ♪ shocking what love can do sarah, will you marry me? i think we should see other people. in fact, i'm already seeing your best friend, justin. ♪ i would have appreciated a proactive update on the status of our relationship. who do you think i am, tim? quicken loans? at quicken loans, we provide you with proactive updates on the status of your home loan. and our innovative online tools ensure that you're always in the loop. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. i like yoplait. it is yoplait. but you said it was greek. mmhmm. so is it greek or is it yoplait? exactly. okay... [ female announcer ] yoplait. it is so greek. okay... whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! whwheeee! ! whwheeee!! whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ahah h heaeadsds u up. whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! evevererytythihingng y youou l , nonow w momobibilele.. dodownwnloloadad t thehe n nep totodaday.y. imagine if you could always see life [music] in the best light. every time of day. outdoors, or in. transi

piers morgan is talking to jeremy lin's agent to find out what life is really like for the young star. watch that interview on piers morgan tonight, cnne. >>> whitney houston's final have tomorrow and we are just finding out more big stars are being added to that guest list. "showbiz tonight" host a.j. hammer joins us live with more details on this from new york. aj? >> the list of people confirmed to be attending continues to grow at this hour. we do know that aretha franklin, kevin costner, tyler perry, clive davey, stevie wonder, alicia keys, deion warwick and jesse jackson are all among those who will be there. and fred, "showbiz tonight" just confirmed more names, beyonce, jay-z, elton john and r. kelly will be saying good-bye to whitney tomorrow. >> and among those who are actually performing? >> we know that aretha, alicia keys and stevie wonder are expected to sing at the funeral 12 noon to the wine nans family is very involved, the houstons and its wine nans are practically family. marvin wine nan is giving the eulogy as we know, last night, he said he and his brother and sister will be singing at the funeral with members of

. >> one of the things i will talk about that no president has talked about before is i think the dangers of contraception in this country. >> reporter: but santorum told cnn's piers morganrsonal beliefs -- >> the issue is as a public servant how do i feel about the issue? it should be available. >> the fact that it's even being raised is drawing fury among groups. it asks if this is the 2012 president atelection or 1956, saying it's hard for one extremist to stand out in today's gop. >>> a new cnn/orc poll fundses that 81 march disagree. 77% of catholics polled feel the same way. could this issue hurt rick santorum? mary matalin says no. >> he was articulating the catholic proposition on contraception. that's his belief. he specifically said his policy position is not to ban birth control, and when this plays out, that can't hurt him. >> reporter: this isn't the first time talk about contraception has come up in the republican presidential campaign. you may remember a couple months ago mitt romney was asked about it in a debate about whether a state has the right to ban contraception. he remarked it was an unusual topic being raised and wound up saying that contraceptio

cnn, new york. >> did we get it? >> that's world report for this hour. keep in touch with me on twitter. you can find me at cnn. piers morgandidiffffererene? yoyou u wawalklk i intna coconvnvenentitiononalal ms ststorore,e, i it't's s ry nonot t ababouout t yoy. ththeyey s sayay, , "w"weleu wawantnt a a f firirm m bebn lilie e onon o onene o of ff yoyou u wawantnt a a s sofou cacan n lilie e onon o onene o " wewe p prorovividede t thet inindidivividudualalizizatat yoyourur b bodody y neneede. wewelclcomome e toto t thehe slsleeeep p nunumbmberer . nonot t jujustst o ordrdininaran sasalele, , bubut t ththe e bn chchanangege y youour r lilifef. ththe e slsleeeep p nunumb. ththisis i is s yoyourur b bodo. yoyou u cacan n sesee e a a lile prpresessusurere i in n ththe es anand d inin t thehe h hipi. nonow w yoyou u cacan n fet hahappppenens s asas w we e rarr slsleeeep p nunumbmberer s seted alallolow w ththe e bebed d totr toto y youour r inindidivividud. wowow!w! ththatat f feeeelsls r reae. itit's's h huguggigingng m. itit's's n notot a abobt sosoftft o or r fifirm. itit's's a aboboutut s supuppope yoyou u fifindnd i it t mo

gingrich appears tonight on cnn's "piers morgan" at 9:00 p.m.eportedly spying on its users personal text massages to the london newspaper sunday times. it reveals facebook has admitted to reading the tex messages to users who download their app to the smart phone. it accessed them as part of a trial to launch its own messaging system. facebook is not the only one. yahoo! messenger, flikr and others access users' personal data. >>> let's get a quick check of the weather with rob marciano. good morning, rob. >> good morning. we start you off in an area of the country that desperately needs the rain and it's getting it. the past two day, but don't want it. north florida. the rain continues to come down. daytona 500 postponed because of rain for the first time in over 50 years. and lo and behold, if you went 50 miles to the south of daytona, dry. again today, rainfall. appears to be some drying behind this but that likely not to come until late this afternoon. trying to get a green flag going at noon. doubtful that's going to happen. maybe 3:00 or l

our politics wrap-up on a special edition of "piers morgan live." >>> hello, i'm monita rajpal at cnn london. an activist in the syrian city of homs tells us that government forces have sealed off the city and it's under heavy bombardment from rocket fire. doctors and patients were killed. opposition activists reported that 69 people had been killed in homs on monday. >>> we are closely monitoring a rapidly developing situation in the maldives. president mohammed masheed announced his resignation after a police mutiny. they are calling for a greater role for islamic values in the country. cnn has no confirmation of who is currently in control. >>> europe is still dging itself out from last week's snow and more cold weather on the way. some communities in southeastern europe are struggling to cope with record low temperatures. ukraine along has reported 135 deaths from the extreme weather. those are the headlines from cnn. i'm monita rajpal. "world business today" starts right now. >>> good morning from cnn london, i'm nina dos santos. >>> very good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i'm an

was no sign of any criminal intent, and at this point, there is no word on the cause of death of whitney houston. cnn's piers morganrs, what a sad evening. what a sad story to have to report to our viewers. >> it's shocking, don. the great mentor who discovered whitney houston, i talked to him and we were talking about him having the greatest voice of them all. i know he was excited about whitney being at the party. apparently she went to an event last night and was singing there. i'm told the party is going ahead tonight. it will obviously be now sort of a memorial to whitney. but i think on the phone now i have simon cowell, who has worked with whitney houston in recent years on "american idol." simon, are you there? >> yes, i'm here, piers. how are you? >> simon, obviously i know you're back in britain. this is a tragic turn of events. >> this is going to be one of these times, piers, where you're going to remember where you were when you heard the news, it's that significant. i must have had 100 text messages already. i am absolutely devastated by this news. i'm so sad for her. she was undoubtedly one of the gr

on cnn. join soledad o'brien, piers morgan, and don lemon for live coverage beginning at 11:00 in the morning eastern time. >>> it's been nearly a week now since whitney houston died in los angeles. investigators are still seeking answers to figure out how it happened. joining us is jane velez-mitchell. it's one of those stories that reminds you of michael can jackson, anna nicole smith. they all have a thread, drug abuse. i know that's difficult for the family as they go into the funeral. >> they are very concerned about the tone and that's why i think they don't want this big motorcade from the funeral home to the church. there's going to be this private viewing today at the funeral home and then at some point, we don't know when, the body will be quietly moved to the church so there isn't a parade atmosphere. they want everything respectful. now, once the funeral service begins with all of the big names, that is going to be a celebration of her life. that is going to be a joyful ceremony. but the family is very concerned that the controversy for tomorrow be put aside and this is a celebrat

cnn personality piers morgan was the editor at the time and wrote a letter describing one of the voicehe previously testified at the inquiry but refused to say who played the message for him. he implied it may have been mills herself. she denight that today. >> i can't quite believe that he would even try and insinuate, a man that's written nothing but awful things about me would absolutely relish in the court if i had personally played a voice message to him. >> former beatle ball mccartney remains quite popular. when heather mills divorced him, she became a tabloid hate figure. >>> dozens of celebrities graced the catwalk for the annual heart truth's red dress fashion show. stinger gloria estefan strutted her stuff along with "dynasty's" linda evans. it raises awareness for cardiovascular disease among women, the nation's leading cause of death. february is also american heart month. >>> are you feeling lucky? today you may want to go out and buy a powerball ticket. >> no one matched all six winning numbers last night to claim the top prize of $250 million. that means the big jackpot

on upper-income americans are too low. check out what he tells cnn's piers morgan tonight. >> so tired of talking about warren buffett.should just write a check and shut up, really, and just contribute, okay? the fact of the matter is that i'm tired of hearing about it. if he wants to give the the government more money he's got the ability to write a check. go ahead and write it. >> reporter: pretty blunt advice. also the pontifical counsel for social communications or pope benedict's social media team is using twitters in hoping to get catholics focus more on lent. the pope who you see here using an ipad will post spiritual guidance on twitter. the goal is to engage the media savvy younger generation with the pope's messages. i guess the question eggs how long will it take for the pope to be following @john king cnn. >> #give up dessert. #be nice at home. that's good to see the pope adapting to modern times to appeal to young people. great idea. >>> 90 minutes away from the big debate. if you've got a question for the candidates, break out your ipad like the pope. still time to submit it on facebook or twitter. after

on a special piers morgan. 9:00 p.m. eastern. that's it for us tonight. >>> from cnn center, this is "cnn saturday morning" at 6:00 a.m. in atlanta. 5:00 a.m. in houston, texas, 5:00 a.m. in california. good morning. i'm gary. it's a sad day for family and friends of whitney houston. the funeral for the pop star will be held in newark, new jersey. we'll go there live. >>> plus, a 29-year-old man is alleged to blow up the u.s. capitol. we go live to d.c. >>> a cincinnati high school is paying students to attend. yes, you heard me. they will give money to students to attend school, get good grades and pay attention in glass. tweet me. >>> here are some of the stories we are following this morning. opposition activists in syria say the military took shots at them during demonstrations and funerals in damascus today. as many as 61 people were killed yesterday in the government crackdown. we are told by one activist the syrian military is planning an all out assault on a neighborhood in homs today. it's been the center of the uprising. >>> wages are going up by as much as 25% at a chinese factory that makes apple ipads and

what ended in a nearly $50 million divorce, piers morgan, now with cnn but once editor of news of the world wrote in an article calling mills a monster, at onetage i was played a tape of a message paul had left for heather on her mobile phone. it was heart breaking. he sounded lonely, miserable and desperate and even sang "we can work it out" into the answerphone. now the time has come to tell what's right and what's wrong. morgan won't reveal anything about how he heard that message. testifying here in december. >> on the tape of a voicemail message, you didn't think it was unethical? >> it depends on the circumstances in which you're listening to it. in their divorce case paul mccartney stated as a fact she had recorded their conversations and given them to the media. >> reporter: something heather mills denies. >> did you authorize mr. morgan to access your voicemail? >> never. >> reporter: she said she never played her voicemails for anyone or authorized anyone to listen. so far the hacking scandal and the expense of closing news of the world has cost rupert murdoch's news international more than $250 million. this week they settled the

cnn will have full coverage tomorrow morning beginning at 11:00 a.m. eastern. join piers morgan and don lemon as the world remembers a legend. whitney houston, her life, her music. live tomorrow onnext hour. first, protesters taking to the streets of syria. in defiance of a brutal crackdown. >>> and anthony has died. the new york times reporter was covering the crisis in syria when he died of an apparent asthma attack. his family and friends prepare to say good-bye to whitney houston. one person who recently paid tribute to her. >> i am humbled, i am thankful to be here. i thank you. you are my family. >> those were houston's remarks as she accepted the entertainer of the year award, the b.e.t. honors two years ago. deborah lee is coming up next. but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! beth! hi! looking good. you've lost some weight. thanks. you noticed. these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right -- whole grain.

on cnn. you can join soledad o'brien, don lemon, and piers morgan for live coverage that begins on saturday at 11:00 eastern time. make sure you tune in for that. >>> other news today, democrats have chosen the man that they want to lead their national convention this fall. so why l.a. mayor antonio, what he has to say about his new and upcoming role. the mayor will join me next to talk about what he has in store. any surprises for the three-day event? make sure you tune in coming up next. >>> first, though, to an adorable dog. alive and well today. thank you very much to fast acting florida firefighters. when they got to a burning home, the neighbor said there could be two dogs inside. it didn't take them a second to decide what they had to do, hose down the flames, get in there, find the dogs. they even gave one of the dogs oxygen, saved the dogs lives. for your bravery and kindness, you are today's rock stars. i habe a cohd. i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights

one week away. we're going to have full, live coverage, of course. piers morgan is next. for everyone at cnn the turbine business right here in schenectady. without the stuff that we make here, you wouldn't be able to walk in your house and flip on your lights. [ brad ] at ge we build turbines that power the world. they go into power plants which take some form of energy, harness it, and turn it into more efficient electricity. [ ron ] when i was a kid i wanted to work with my hands, that was my thing. i really enjoy building turbines. it's nice to know that what you're building is gonna do something for the world. when people think of ge, they typically don't think about beer. a lot of people may not realize that the power needed to keep their budweiser cold and even to make their beer comes from turbines made right here. wait, so you guys make the beer? no, we make the power that makes the beer. so without you there'd be no bud? that's right. well, we like you. [ laughter ] ♪

on the maps. >> what's the power ball number? >> worth $200 million. >> the label says return to cnn cloakroom. >> we have to take a quick break. "piers morganonight" starts after the break. thanks for watching. my name is marjorie reyes. i'm a chief warrant officer. i love the fact that quicken loans provides va loans. quicken loans understood all the details and guided me through every step of the process. i know wherever the military sends me, i can depend on quicken loans. [♪...] >> announcer: with nothing but his computer, an identity thief is able to use your information to open a bank account in order to make your money his money. [whoosh, clang] you need lifelock, the only identity theft protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. lifelock: relentlessly protecting your identity. call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today. the hyundai genesis. in a new, faster-acting formula. zero-to-sixty in less time than a porsche panamera s. the 429 horsepower genesis r-spec. from hyundai. yeah, you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. lo

going on with the pre grammy awards party at the same hotel where houston was found dead hours earlier. houston was supposed to have performed at that party and chaka khan tells cnn's piers morganhat houston should have had a supervisor. chaka khan herself is a recovering addict and says the music industry can become a very bad influence on stars. >> i was seeing these pictures of her apparently falling at clubs and whether it was a lot of wine, but certainly, the fact that she was drinking publicly in these clubs in hollywood seemed to me a potential recipe for disaster. >> it was. it absolutely was, and i stand by that. i stand on that. i stand on that whoever flew her out to perform at that party should have provided someone to be there to somehow look, just keep the riffraff out of the situation, just keep some of the dangerous people away. >> was she very vulnerable, do you think -- >> yes. >> -- even to the end to that kind of situation? >> absolutely, we're all -- i am. i'm very vulnerable as, you know -- i mean, i'm not -- i will never do cocaine again, i know that, but we are sensitive, highly sensitive people, entertainers. >> chaka khan also says it was complete insa

. >> cnn is airing special coverage of the funeral, hosted by soledad o'brien, piers morgan and don lemon. it is beginning saturday at 11:00 eastern. >>> we have sad news to report to you of one of our colleagues, pulitzer prize honored and courageous "new york times" reporter anthony shadid, a friend of the cnn family has died in syria at 43 years old. he reportedly suffered a fatal asthma attack. his photographer carried his body over the border to turkey. you might remember his image because he did several interviews with anderson cooper here. he and his photographer were both kidnapped in libya last year. >> cnn's anderson cooper discussed that experience with shadid back in april and told cooper that telling these stories are are absolutely worth the risk. >> i think there are some stories that are worth taking risks for. it is a cliche, but endures some meaning to it, millions you're there covering -- unless you're there covering it nobody is going to know about it, unless you're there trying to bring meaning to it, a certain depth to it, it won't be done otherwise. >> shadid was reporting on the military resistance in syria. he won two pulitzer prizes for his coverage

on the fame and fortune of whitney houston. tom forman, cnn, washington. >>> cnn has full coverage of whitney houston's funeral this saturday beginning at 11:00 a.m. eastern. join piers morganorld says good-bye to a legend. >>> santorum releases his tax returns. we have details in the political ticker. the update is up next. improve roi through seo all by cob. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm going b-i-g. [ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. go national. go like a pro. >>> all right. so rick santorum says sometimes he works six, seven job ace year. he said it paid off. he released his tax returns for the last four years. the politi washington is mark preston. his earnings, what do we know of his tax rate? >> we know his tax rate is a lot higher than what mitt romney's tax rate was. let's take a look at these numbers right here, suzanne. just last year alone, he made nearly $1 million but his tax rate was 28%, a little more than 28%. his earnings were down actually from the year before. we're hearing a little ov

on borders. >>> a former aide to giffords who was also injured in the january 2001 shooting now running for her old congressional seat. ron barber told cnn's piers morganhat giffords asked him to run. >> very hard to say no to congresswoman giffords. i've never said no to her in my life. but i did go away from that conversation and gave it considerable thought, looked at the pros and cons and finally i was able to say her to, congresswoman, i will do that. >> again, ron barber to piers morgan. soledad? >> wow, he looks good. shot twice. foodness. thanks, christine. >>> back to our conversation with our panelists. so yesterday i think it was on "john king usa." rick santorum was a guest. talking about the contraception issue and women in combat. he said this. i want to play a little bit. >> i do have concerns about women in front line combat. i think that could be a very compromising situation where people naturally may do things that may not be in the interest of the mission because of other types of emotions that are involved. >> where people normally -- naturally may t not do things that might not be in the interest of the mission because other types

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